GCinDC's Giant DH Comp

[Thud]

I find it utterly stupefying that you can pass the police car @1:20 & keep right on rolling.
The cops in my tourist trap towns would impound in a second.....I can see the list already. Unlicensed vehicle, no insurance,bla bla bla.

How can 2 regions of the same country be so differently managed....I guess we need more crime to keep the police busy.
Ride on bro....hope you can keep doing that for a long time....

 

[GCinDC]

pet peeve. reposting from previous page:
[youtube]A1LC69NbPMA[/youtube]

not a cop. secret service. i was counting on him stopping at that light. :wink:

they patrol that section of mass ave on the vice president's detail, whose shack i pass daily. they must know me by now. they've given me second looks, mostly cause my evil helmet. still i wouldn't be surprised if they stop me someday. other flavors of the service have stopped me at the WH and Cap different times, run my numbers... it's somewhere in the idrive thread. lol.

did you see that other 'cop' (American U security) i passed here in the previous vid. or did the music make that one unwatchable? :lol:

gotta play the rules of your game, whatever it is. our players are a bit complicated. for metro PD, i slow down, pedal and smile...

chain's good. the top guide had slipped down yesterday and was crunching. i've pulled it all away. the chain's not slipped at all, and it def helps going up that big hill, since i can pedal hard until 37mph now. faster than that and it's a bit silly.

 

[GCinDC]

ps. just hope some fool doesn't ruin it for the rest of us. lol.

in other news, at bedtime, i had a chuckle while reading some seuss to the kids:

we all like our Mikes, don't we?

 

[Tinto]

holy crap - were you a bike courier earlier in life?
That is the only group of people I've seen who can get away with most of that stuff (I'm a car/ I'm a pedestrian/ I'm a bike) and come out alive!

 

[GCinDC]

nope. same as most: bmx as kid, road bike commuter most of adult life (without Mike). never even done proper downhill...

but i bet my handlebars are shorter than any other downhill bikes. i lopped close to 2" off each side. so that's a bit like a courier i guess. i just love going with the flow and looking for opportunities...

i forgot to mention that it was a damn good thing i changed the chainring out when i did. cause i noticed how loose my old one was.
[youtube]-8YYSxLDHCM[/youtube]
i nearly peed myself. and thanked god. can you imagine if that bitch fell off during shenanigans? i shudder to think! long time followers will know this happened before, and i may not have put on the blue threadlock. but i sure did this time.

and my first reaction was such embarrassment that i didn't want to show y'all. but then i realized it could help someone else. :wink:

 

[dan974]

Loctite's rules

 

[GCinDC]

[youtube]xIA0kbLiNPs[/youtube]

 

[GCinDC]

wife's on business travel, so i'm on smoothie duty.

life is full of typical setbacks, and i'd actually rather this than spilling the coffee grinds on the floor..

so i was all excited when it was time to go to work.

something wasn't quite right when i stepped in the garage tho:

and got hit by a wall of floating particulate matter.

imagine my surprise to see this:

nevertheless, it's a bit of a bit of a setback for this build!

my first thoughts:
- that damn runt cell! i was going to take the pack apart last night and look for it! and replace it w/ a spare.
- in fact, i was about to charge it inside the house last night too, so the batts were warm!

- holy crap, how did the whole garage not burn down! i am the luckiest MOFO alive! (cause the trees beside the garage would be kindling for the house...)
- god it's beautiful... look how everything melted. i've gotta take a ton of pictures. the guys are going to love this! too bad there's no video...

- holy crap, it was right next to the gas tank of the lawn mower!

- the fire must have died for lack of oxygen. amazing!
- so was it the runt, or a balance wire from the bc168, since i upped charging to 8A? i need to find out WHY...
- should i file an insurance claim...? and if so, what should i say? how much would i get back? maybe ~5k? would it cover cost of cleanup? so many things were not damaged. the power strip right next to the bike was still on, that the bc168 psu was plugged into....
- no quick fix for this! will have to take metro today. and maybe pedal bike after that? if i can clean everything up.
- better tell the wife...
- and the kids, that the garage is off limits.. (which i did, and brought them all out to see. they were amazed too! and they're going to tell everyone in school. haha)

....WOW! god, i'm lucky...

- oh yeah, i guess i am sad too. it is a bit of a loss...a lot of conflicting emotions!

- this has to qualify as my third major fire. first was an acre of hay in rural mass, when trying to light a small fire with a lighter i'd found... second was my studio apartment in 2001 (total loss).. and now this.

- final thought: the poor critters that were living in the garage... what are those tracks anyway?:

 

[pucksterpete]

Dude I am so sorry this happen. Like you said thank god it didn't catch the whole garage and house on fire. Makes me think now, no batteries left on bike and while charging keep an eye open. frock thats crazy man. I wish you the best man.

 

[dnmun]

if you can handle the loss against your deductible, then i would recommend eating it yourself. i had state farm cancel me after filing several claims including fire. but i have no mortgage so it is not critical.

do you think you can isolate the origin of the fire? look for wire where the strands are burned open and have the small balls of melted metal on the ends of the strands like was visible on chroot's charging wire.

 

[Axel]

Yes, finally you are lucky, you are not hurt and you still have your house !
I am in DC actually, and I have time to help you, let me know.
How is the bike frame ?
Best my friend
Axel

 

[dbaker]

I am so glad you did not lose the garage to a fire. I am really sad about the bike

 

[ambroseliao]

Lucky indeed! I'm very happy that you, your garage and your house survived. I'm very sad your bike didn't.

 

[zelectric]

imagine my surprise to see this:

Wow!! I am very sorry for your loss but you are one lucky MOFO!! Your house is still standing and no one was injured. Everything else can be replaced. Thank you for sharing this and reminding everybody that some batteries are more dangerous than others. Were you charging or did it just spontaneously ignite???
Z.

 

[dnmun]

you were charging by using a parallel/series connector?

it does look like there is a spot where the metal box was burned where the charging harness draped down alongside the metal angle piece on the bottom there.

 

[GCinDC]

yes, i'd left the bc168 on after charging, like i always have, just like i posted the other day:

i'm glad for my job that it didn't happen while plugged in at work! but there it sits under a sprinkler. still would be bad press for my building..

i need to take some better shots of the wiring. good to treat it like a crime scene for now. lol.

my homeowner's deductible is $1k. i've got heaps of valuable stuff in the garage that might be ruined from smoke damage. or not. hard to tell. but that's the first priority. i'm wondering if the insurance treats it the same whether it was my fault or not. hell, they'd cover it if i left a candle burning, right?

cleanup is going to suck bigtime! as if i had time for that...

karma for thumbing my eyes at the law?

yes, lucky indeed tho.

no one seems to care about the smoothie mess?

the seat:

the bench:

the mc wheel (don't know what melted on it):

nearby bins:

the front:

24-90v light:

magura throttle and nearby multimeter:

where's the CA?

motor may be ok? LOL

the bike:

it does look much better w/o the fenders, doesn't it? :lol:

 

[gensem]

Hell... im glad you are ok Greg.
Sometimes bad things happen to push us to a better direction.

EDit: what a nice bike you had... i would hate to lose it.

 

[Trackman417]

Guess your going to have to get Thud to start working like crazy on you mid drive monster.
The smoothie was a forecoming to what happened in the garage.
Can't you get a estimate from your insurance provider to see if it will be worth getting the insurance involved? Would they cover the loss of the bike and the battery's . That would be pretty awesome.
How is the bike? You know if you still can/want to use the frame? I imagine all of that heat would weaken the frame considerably.
Let's hope all goes in your favor.

 

[dnmun]

my lipo fire was not so bad because i discovered it before it had time to catch anything else on fire besides the bed. the lipo cells melted out of the laptop when we picked up the bed after putting out the fire and were carrying it outside.

the cell slid off the bed onto the floor and melted a hole through the carpet. it was still in thermal runaway and had more energy left even after maybe 15 mins of overheating. it had been burning long enuff to catch the bed on fire. 4 foot flames.

cleanup was the biggest in both my house fires. smoke on the ceilings, walls, all scrubbed off but took a lotta time. the ceiling in the room where the lipo fire happened was sculpted so i could not clean all the smoke out of the irregularities in the surface by washing and scrubbing but that was enuff to make it look clean. i still see little black shadows in the ceiling where the sculpting had the most relief.

don't tell the wife. the insurance company may come back if you file a claim and restrict your ebike. but you could get a small metal outdoor shed for charging then. it would be outside their restrictions on the house and garage if you do file.

 

[chroot]

Oh man, I felt sick when saw this fire indication, It just like what happened to my Yuba Mundo but your far worst than what I had with the Headway LiFeP04 pack.

Sorry for your loss, Glad it did not burn down the garage maybe worse next door could burn down from you. Call your house insurance and have it cover the damages. Hope they will able cover the damages.

I bet your wife already angry or mad you for irresponsible unattended battery charging. I learned my lesson to not leave unattended charging active ever again! I am sitting on my PC computer and right next to charger station and if the battery act odd or lead something bad. I just take it right outside thru rear slider glass lead to outside about 5 feet away from charging station.

PS. OH MAN Giant DH comp frame loss! damn

 

[fizzit]

Wow. That is a lot of melted plastic and soot. I'm glad your home and most of your possessions are okay! Bummer about the bike though
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to throw an asbestos blanket over my bike while it's charging :lol: especially since it sits next to a car with 540lb of Lithium in it

 

[Thud]

PISSSHITFUCKDAMHELL!!

Your wife is going to kill you for leaving that mess on the counter!.....





oh & your bike burned up........Is the frame ok?
looks cooked in a pretty critical aera.......sucky suck that sucks.
I am making progress on the other comp....but planed on keeping it till the end of aprill.....I may need to send it sooner.

Looks like a smal Halon system might be a good idea in a lipo charging area.....
check you re-mail when things settle down...that sucks bro.

the critter tracks look like a vole's or a small mouse......peta will see this & then you are in real trouble.

 

[The fingers]

Arrrrgh!

 

[Cresh]

Wow, glad your ok. Did the gopro burn up too?

 

[nicobie]

I just showed this thread to my son-in-law. He is going to score some fire blankets from our local fire dept. for our bikes. Wished I'd of thought of this sooner...